Almost every audio/video (A/V) entertainment device is sold with a wireless remote control to enable a user to remotely control the device. A home entertainment center typically includes an A/V receiver, a cable box or satellite receiver, a television or video monitor, a video recorder, and a digital video disc and/or compact disc player. Each of these devices is usually sold with its own remote control and one or more of the remote controls may be capable of serving as a “universal” remote control that can selectively control several of the devices in the entertainment center. Invariably, while enjoying a movie or otherwise experiencing the benefits of the home entertainment center, a telephone will ring, requiring the user to find the appropriate remote control (or universal remote control) to pause a video or tape playback, or either turn down or mute the volume of the receiver or other A/V device that is currently playing. Since remote controls tend to be used in different locations in a room, the user will often have to delay answering or talking on the telephone, in order to locate the remote control that is needed to carry out the desired control function, so that the user can talk to the party calling on the telephone.
Clearly, it would be preferable to avoid the need to find an appropriate remote control to pause, turn down the volume, or mute A/V equipment when answering a telephone call. One approach to solving this problem would be to simply incorporate a conventional universal remote control in each desktop telephone that is used where the remote control of nearby equipment may be required. However, for many home applications, the added cost, required additional size of the handset/telephone base, and the increased complexity required to include a conventional universal remote control in the telephone would tend to make such a solution impractical. Especially for home use, it would be more desirable to use a telephone handset that is generally conventional in appearance and in the control keypad provided, but which in cooperation with other components coupled to the telephone system, is able to provide the desired remote control functions.
Even greater remote control functionality might be provided by integrating a computing device, such as a personal computer (PC), with a user's telephone system, and using the computing device to implement logic that expands the remote control capability. For example, it would be desirable to enable a user to employ a conventional telephone, at any location in the world, to remotely control a PC and/or other electronic devices within a user's home, in response to entry by the user of a predefined control code on the conventional telephone DTMF keypad of the telephone from which the user is calling a telephone that is coupled to the PC or other computing device. The user should be able to simply activate the conventional keys or switches on the keypad of the telephone, producing DTMF tones that are recognized by the PC or computing device to initiate the desired remote control functionality, using a wireless signal that is transmitted to the controlled device.
Another desirable remote control capability would enable a telephone keypad to be employed as a pointing device to control a cursor, for example on a display or a monitor of a PC. Since the key pad on a conventional telephone is generally analogous to a numeric keypad on a PC, it would be desirable to employ the telephone keypad in much the same way as the numeric keypad is used as “mousekeys” to control a cursor on a PC display, and to make selections. In this manner, a cordless telephone, or perhaps a cell telephone could be used as a wireless pointing device to move a cursor and/or select options on a PC, or a television display, or on a display screen during a presentation.